House members had to post their earmark requests for fiscal year 2010 online this weekend; the original deadline was Friday, but that was extended to Saturday at 5 p.m., according to CNN.
So how many members made the deadline? I can't be sure, but I tried to find out over the weekend. I went through 430-some Web sites (there are a few vacancies right now -- Rahm Emanuel's seat, Hilda Solis' seat, and Kirsten Gillibrand's seat) looking for those disclosures (sometimes it was really interesting, sometimes it was thankless drudgery). On 116 Web pages, I couldn't ...
Continue readingFormer PMA Group Clients Get Defense Earmarks from Murtha for 2010
Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., has requested defense related funding for five companies that hired the PMA Group last year, according to a review of the earmark requests released on the Congressman's website. Murtha has requested a total of $23.8 million to be directed to these companies.
You can search for the clients here (links to the search pages don't work).
And here's a breakdown for each of the five companies.
Advanced Acoustic Concepts - $5,000,000
Argon ST - $8,000,000
MTS Technologies - $5,000,000
Planning Systems Inc. - $2,300,000
QTL Bio Defense Systems ...
Continue readingDicks requests earmark for Concurrent Technologies
Rep. Norm Dicks requested one Defense earmark for one former client of PMA Group:
Enhanced Navy Shore Readiness Integration - $5,000,000Enhanced Navy Shore Readiness Integration targets Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC) prioritized opportunities for enhanced mission performance and execution to better enable Navy Fleet, Fighter, and Family readiness. Through this program, prioritized CNIC mission functions are streamlined and standardized on an enterprise scale. During this process, enabling technologies with potential for leap-ahead improvement are identified and demonstrated in real-world environments before being considered for implementation. Additionally, CNICs total force strategy is developed to ensure the right workforce capabilities ...
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Moran requests funds for Samueli Institute
The press release is here. The Washington Post profiled the research facility a while back:
Ask Wayne B. Jonas why the scientific foundation he directs is funding research into the effects of prayer, the use of homeopathy to fight bioterrorism and whether magnetic devices can heal orthopedic injuries, and he offers a straightforward answer: Science is the way to determine whether they work."We're trying to stimulate good-quality research," said Jonas, a former chief of the Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) who directs the nonprofit Samueli Institute for Information Biology (SIIB) in Alexandria ...
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Nothing yet from Norm Dicks, C.W. “Bill” Young
As noted here, Rep. Norm Dicks is one of the more prolific PMA Group earmarks, and is number four on the list of top recipients of PMA Group & client campaign cash. Searching Dicks' site, I was unable to find a list of appropriations requests.
Rep. C.W. "Bill" Young is number five on that list. As of this writing, his Web site says the "List being prepared."
Continue readingMoran requests nine defense earmarks for former PMA Group clients
Rep. James Moran released his list of appropriations requests today. A quick review shows he's asking for nine earmarks for former clients of PMA Group, worth a total of $17.5 million.
Here's the list of 2008 PMA Group clients from Open Secrets, and below are links to earmarks requests and dollar amounts.
General Dynamics $2,000,000; DDL Omni Engineering LLC $3,000,000; ITT Corp $2,000,000; Dynamis $2,000,000; Mobilvox $2,000,000; Rockwell Collins $1,000,000; Argon ST $3,000,000; Artis $1,000,000; Planning Systems Inc. $1,500,000;
Continue readingEarmark requests due online today
I was just forwarded a press release from the office of Rep. Jeff Flake, reminding us that members have to post their earmark requests online today:
Washington, D.C. " Republican Congressman Jeff Flake, who represents Arizona's Sixth District, today highlighted the House of Representatives' earmark request deadline for fiscal year 2010. Today is the deadline.In February, the House Appropriations Committee issued a new rule concerning FY10 earmark requests: To offer more opportunity for public scrutiny of Member requests, Members must post information on the requests they have submitted to the Appropriations Committee on their official House website at ...
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Prairie Parkway dead?
So says Chicago Sun-Times columnist Lynn Sweet:
In 2005, former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) stuffed a $207 million earmark in a federal highway bill to help pay for the road, estimated to cost $1 billion to build. The 37-mile highway would roll through Kane and Kendall Counties, linking I-80 and I-88, the Reagan Memorial Tollway.Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.), who replaced Hastert, said Wednesday there is "a near consensus in the area," that "the first priority for money being spent on roads is probably not in that (Prairie Parkway) corridor but rather beefing up the existing north south ...
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Rangel: No accusations coming from Congress
Roll Call's Lauren W. Whittington reports that Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., once again, is saying that the ethics committee has nothing on him:
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Rangel said that the charge against him has no merit and has no facts, and he repeatedly asserted that no one outside of the press " he specifically called out a New York Times reporter " has made allegations and that there has been no accusations coming from the Congress.Continue readingRangel said several times that no one other than a reporter has accused me. When pressed on why the Committee on Standards ...
Dodd’s family business?
Kevin Rennie notes another connection of Sen. Christopher Dodd to the financial industry, at one remove from AIG:
it turns out that Senator Dodd's wife has also benefited from past connections to AIG as well.From 2001-2004, Jackie Clegg Dodd served as an "outside" director of IPC Holdings, Ltd., a Bermuda-based company controlled by AIG.
There are many other connections, obviously.
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